ABOUT ANNE MAZER

Quite a lot of my writing education took place while I was unconscious. My parents wanted desperately to become writers and made themselves get up at 4:00 a.m. every morning in order to have writing time before their three young children awoke. The first thing I heard every day was two big, noisy electric typewriters: my childhood wake-up music. During the day, my parents endlessly discussed ideas, plot, and character, and before I was seven years old, I had heard about revisions, drafts, and rejection slips. It was like growing up in a twenty four/seven writer’s boot camp.

In order to escape from my parents’ obsession with writing, I turned to books. (Before I understood the meaning of the word "irony," obviously.) I was an avid reader from an early age and my love of reading has always inspired my writing. I loved fantasy, fairy tales, historical fiction, humor, realistic fiction, history, and adventure. At the age of twelve, I wanted to be an actress, a ballerina and a nuclear physicist. These careers were rapidly eliminated as I realized that I a) can't dance, b) can't act; and c) really suck at math.

Growing up with two aspiring writers, I learned about discipline, perseverance and dedication. I also learned never to lock the doors to my office when I had children. My parents eventually became successful and award-winning young adult novelists.

During early adulthood, I worked as an au pair, a bank teller, a pill bottle labeler, a receptionist, an English tutor, and an administrative assistant, as well as other jobs that I was ill-suited for. I attended three universities, spent several years in Paris, and wandered around aimlessly a lot, but never stopped reading.

My “eureka” moment about writing came when writing a research report on a secretarial job. As I lovingly polished each sentence, and meticulously organized the paragraphs, I realized that no one really cared how beautifully I wrote about the latest models of air-conditioners. Except me, of course.

I began to write more seriously. It took me seven years to publish my first book, a picture book inspired by my then two year old son, Max.

Over the last twenty years, I've written forty-five books for young readers. I hope I'll be writing for a long time.

Fun Facts About Anne Mazer

Her favorite foods as a kid were popcorn, rice pudding and blueberries.

When she was on vacation, she would sometimes read up to ten books a day.

If she had magic powers, she'd choose invisibility.

She painted the rooms in her last house yellow, orange, and violet. (Now they're ecru.)

One of her favorite childhood books was The Twilight of Magic, by Hugh Lofting.

When Anne was a teenager, her room was so messy that she needed a map to get from the door to the bed. (sort of)

In school Anne often flunked her favorite creative subjects, like writing and art.